Castleford 20 Catalans 22: Tigers coach Matterson fumes in The Jungle

Castleford coach Terry Matterson admitted he was frustrated by the lack of useof the video referee during the narrow loss to Catalans Dragons.

The Tigers were edged out 22-20 in a hard-fought engage Super League encounterat The Jungle but referee Ian Smith was the centre of attention after a number of controversial decisions.

Chief among them were his failure to check two Catalans tries for possible infringements on the big screen and a penalty decision ahead of Dane Carlaw'sdecisive try.

No go area: Brett Ferres of Castleford Tigers is tackled by Clint Greenshields of Catalan Dragons

Smith was booed persistently by home fans as a result and was escorted from thefield by a steward after the game while there were claims some Dragons players were showered with beer by the crowd.

Matterson refused to condemn Smith outright but felt he should have called on the services of video official Phil Bentham more.

He said: 'I don't understand why they don't go to the video. I can't see it [the screen] where I sit, so I'm not too sure, but if it's there you might as well use it.

'It is a bonus we get the video and TV. I just don't understand why they don't use it. But I don't really want to comment on the referee. I don't think that will do us any good.'

Cas raced into an early 10-0 lead through Brett Ferres and Richard Owen but theDragons were level by the interval after replies from Dimitri Pelo and Jean-Philippe Baile.

Clint Greenshields and Carlaw then completed the fightback but Owen's second try left Catalans clinging on for a narrow win.

Not this time: David Ferriol of Catalan Dragons attempts to break through the Castleford defence

Matterson added: 'The first 15 minutes were to plan but after that our ball completion went down.

'They are a good side and they capitalised on it but it is disappointing because that was there to win.'

Dragons coach Kevin Walters, a former Brisbane Broncos team-mate of Matterson, admitted his side had enjoyed some good fortune.

Walters said: 'In the first 10 or 15 minutes we couldn't control their ball work. They were coming up with some good stuff but then we finally got our defence to work and got back into the game.

'I always thought it would go down to the death and fortunately it was us that were ahead at the time. It could have gone either way and we had a bit of luck in areas you need to win games and we'll take that.'